Aah…the Thanksgiving holiday!

For many of us it conjures up memories and emotions of wholesomeness, family, fall colors, great food and of course, being thankful to God for all of the blessings we have.

Despite the fact Thanksgiving is just about being swept off the map and overshadowed as a major holiday these days…it will always be a significant holiday I will respect and honor in my lifetime.

I believe Thanksgiving 2009 offers up a special opportunity to those of us in business. No doubt it’s been a tough year for many of us here in the U.S. despite what the news says. I…

This is my final article of my four part series on Business Suicide Mindsets to Avoid in 2009.

Although I this one is last, it can be just as damaging for a business as the other three I have already covered.

I call this Business Suicide Mentality #4: The “I Don’t Have Too; I Don’t Want Too, I Will Not Change!” Mindset.

Yep, Change…it’s a word we all know yet often we find we are naturally opposed to the meaning of this word.  We find change is disruptive and unsettling, so we resist it.

The dictionary defines change as…

Change

to make the form, nature,…

Facebook User Facts February, 2009

• Facebook growing faster with women than men in almost every age group. Women comprise 56.2% of Facebook’s audience, up from 54.3% late last year.

• Facebook reporting nearly 45.3 million active US users in the last 30 days

• Facebook growing in every age/gender demographic. Fastest growing segment: Women over 55, up 175.3% in the last 120 days.

• 45% of Facebook’s US audience is now 26 years old or older.

I, like most Americans have grown so weary of the unbelievably bad customer service in the everyday marketplace both online and off in this country.

Until recently, we as consumers did not have a very easy and effective way to share with the masses our experiences nor were we very successful in getting attention to our plight regarding bad service and products from the very companies we had the conflict with. The old “on hold forever 800 number” was many times the only recourse we could take against these offending businesses.

That was until technology put the tools in the consumer’s hands…

Fired up my Twitter this morning and checked what the hot topics of the day were and my goodness…#unfollowdiddy was really buzzing!

So I decided to check out what was going on and lo and behold, many fellow tweets were voicing their not so nice things about P Diddy (Sean “Diddy” Combs).

See for yourself…

#unfollowdiddy is trending so I read his tweets. He’s less of a jerk than I expected, but arrogant as he**. Twitters taking him down a peg.

#unfollowdiddy FOLLOW ME FOR A FREE #unfollowdiddy T SHIRT -ONE WINNER EVERY HOUR SM L XL

Good Morning twit fam!! I see the movement #unfollowdiddy is still…

Twitter tweets were buzzing today about their frustration and anger with Old Navy’s $1 Flip Flop Day.

Apparently the marketing gurus in this company (and most other corporations for that matter) have not taken into consideration every move they make…we are watching them…and Twittering!

All over the country people were Twittering about their unhappy experience in “real-time“.  This is the power of the Social Network folks!

It’s for certain, many folks on were not happy campers. Just look at some of the comments I saw coming across Twitter…

one dollar flip flop day at old navy : hate hate hate flip flops : hate hate hate…

21st Century marketing is understanding your emphasis is on a Client not on a Customer.

What’s the difference?

Selling to a “Customer” is a transaction relationship involving an exchange of goods or services for money, versus selling to a “Client” for whom the salesperson takes responsibility for guiding and advising by taking on a stewardship role.

Big difference!

Two-thirds of all online users visit social networks and blogs, according to data from Nielsen Online. And the largest growth in social media users last year came from the 35- to 49-year-old group.

Ever wished you could contact someone at the companies you do business with to complain, resolve problem or just give them the props for something they did you liked without dealing with those aggravating automated phone systems!?

I have and so have many, many consumers for that matter!

It’s so hard to find direct access via the “old model” of doing business but now that social media has provided the tools to voice the consumers experience with millions online…you can now reach some companies and businesses who ‘get’ the power of the people in this digital economy.

If you want to position your business (this…

Because understanding what is going on with people and technology is critical for any business strategy today, I would like to share some information that reveals theory on where the web (3.0 & 4.0) is going and why that is important to consider.

The truth is we (people, your customer) are the web and we always have been! But technology has empowered us to connect with one another like never before…and this is just the beginning.

Here is a informative map on the convergence of technology and social connections i think you will find interesting.

Also, there was an eight-part 2008 survey of technology…